Get to Know Beaumont Library's Newest Board Members

Meet Beaumont Library's newest Board Members, Margaret Coleman and Bret Mahoney!

Margaret Coleman joined the Beaumont Library Board in December replacing Kim Tursky who completed his service in November. Ms. Coleman's term runs through November 2022.

After retiring from teaching in 2015, Margaret, her Kansas native husband, and two cats moved to Cherry Valley in an effort to try life in a more rural, relaxed area. Having just begun her term as a Trustee, she is impressed with the Beaumont Library District, its automated check out system, and outreach program. She looks forward to “building a better Beaumont Library” during her five-year term!

A Connecticut native, Ms. Coleman grew up in Claremont, received her BA in English from Occidental College, and earned a Teaching Credential from UCLA.

She lived in Culver City, CA for 30 years, with her husband and two daughters, and taught grade school for 23 years in Los Angeles and Culver City before relocating to this area.

Being a lifelong library user—getting her first library card before starting kindergarten—she bought a place across from the L.A. County branch library in Culver City, CA, where she and her two daughters were regular visitors, and she was a member of the local Friends group. She made sure her second graders had library cards by including a walking field trip to the library every year.

In 2004, when state funding cuts threatened reduced library hours and librarian job cuts, Ms. Coleman initiated a school-wide letter-writing campaign to then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, imploring him not to make the cuts. Media coverage included the televising of her “Save the Library” speech and a classroom visit by former State Assemblyman Herb Wesson. As a result, there were no cuts in library hours or staff. Plus, the 600-something students at La Ballona Elementary learned the power of a well-written letter!

A published short fiction writer herself, Margaret ran an after-school writers’ workshop and a student newspaper during her 19-year stint at La Ballona. Not a fan of electronic readers, she prefers to read books in print form, and is a firm believer in the institution of the library, considering libraries to be quiet havens where one can read, research, write, and reflect in peace.

Beaumont resident Bret Mahoney was sworn in as the newest Beaumont Library District Board Member on February 22. He fills the vacant position, which expires November 2019, that was previously held by Mark Parker who resigned for health reasons late last year.

Mahoney has a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University and is the Director of Training at Loma Linda University Health Care.

As a child, Bret spent every school break, summer vacation, and long weekend traveling. With friends and relatives spread across the country, his family would drive thousands of miles each year. As a rule, the last stop before leaving town was always the library.

“We would check out as many books as we were allowed, and then my brothers and I would end up trading before the trip was over,” Mahoney states. “One Christmas vacation, on the drive from Tennessee to California and back, I finished nine books. The last 100 miles were spent looking out the window because I was out of reading material. The library was the unofficial sponsor of our family vacations.”

The library has always played a role in Bret’s life. He has lived in nine states during his 33 years, from Texas to Maine to the Pacific island of Guam. “Every few years would find us in a new place, with new friends, new schools and a new culture to learn and adapt to. The one constant was the local library. Wherever we moved, we could always count on there being a library.”

Bret now calls Beaumont his home. He and his wife moved to town in 2014. They were looking for a neighborhood in which to purchase a home and wanted to find a spot with some history. They ended up buying a place a block from the library. What better piece of history to share than Andrew Carnegie’s gift to the people of this city?

Each day, as he drives to his job in Loma Linda, or works renovating his house on California Avenue, you can find him enjoying the Beaumont Library’s growing collection of audiobooks. Even though the technology has changed, his reliance on the library never has.

Beaumont Library, a California Special District independent of both city and county government, provides library services to Beaumont and Cherry Valley and is located at 125 E. Eighth Street in Beaumont. Call 951-845-1357 or visit bld.lib.ca.us for more information.